One should have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the way things that
directly effect his/her life work. Relying on the advice and productivity of
"professionals trained to do that" without even the most basic understanding
leaves one very vulnerable to both the laws of nature and your unscrupulous
fellow man.


I heard that, during the second world war, that the US Army had a big advantage
over the German army in that practically every American GI, whether farm boy or
city kid knew how to make simple repairs on their jeeps, tanks etc. in the
field.

The practice in German schools at that time however, was to cull out the kids
not bound for college and send them to vocational schools where each kid was
intensively trained in a single specialty. As a result they had a cadre of
superbly trained mechanics and were about the only ones allowed to work on
cars. Therefore, the rest of the kids trained such as waiters, bakers and
carpenters didn't get the opportunity to work on cars and had no clue how to
trouble shoot and make even simple repairs to their vehicles in the field.

Dave Tate